Brand-safe and like TV: how advertisers have responded to YouTube's 'Google Preferred'

Brand safe and like TV: how advertisers have responded to YouTube's 'Google Preferred'

Last year YouTube announced ‘Google Preferred’, an option that allows advertisers to ringfence, or reserve, premium inventory. It uses an algorithm to decide on the 5% most premium content "in the eye of the user" by taking into account engagement metrics, such as the amount of time watched and shares.

Premium is in the eye of the user

YouTube shared figures with Marketing exclusively ahead of its Brandcast event in London today, which revealed that 30% of the advertisers that have used the service in the past year are brand new to YouTube.

YouTube offers advertisers the ability to buy a ‘line-up’ which means they can select by verticals and themes.

Debbie Weinstein EMEA Director of Brand Solution and Innovation at YouTube, said that advertisers previously unsure of YouTube were interested in the brand safe and TV-like nature of Google Preferred.

"With the new advertisers that have come onto platform, we found that they liked that it makes it easy to run ads in a brand safe, well-lit and comfortable environment. It is what they are more accustomed to, as well as the line-up buy, which is similar to television," she said.

At the event YouTube will also share statistics around the performance of the ads, proving a correlation between premium content and ad recall and brand preference.

Weinstein said the success of the first year meant YouTube was now going to expand the service into more markets globally.